Saturday, June 03, 2017

Wonder Woman

Today I saw Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine.

Diana Prince (Gadot) lives on the all-female island of Themyscira with her fellow Amazons, but she's the youngest. Youngest of them all when her aunt (Robin Wright) begins secretly training her for combat.

You see, these ladies are no fragile flowers—they're fully capable of defending themselves (plus anyone they deem worthy of defending) and Diana is special. They know they need to prepare her for greater obstacles someday.

The film gets us to "someday" rather quickly. Blue-eyed spy Steve Trevor (Pine) crashes his plane into the ocean that surrounds their land and Diana pulls him to safety. He is soon followed by angry Germans (this is WWI, after all) and it's on.

Diana accompanies him back to England, and from there on out, they're a team. He is working to stop the development of chemical warfare that will alter the rules of engagement; she is out to stop war(s) altogether. They make quite a pair.

Of course, there's romance. And I won't go as far to say that the two have a "crackling chemistry" or make you believe they are two halves of a full heart, but they do complement each other nicely (note: the one snarky line about marriage got a huge round of applause in my theater). I was fine when the two were together and I was fine when they were apart. I was grateful they didn't make the whole plot center around their attraction. In fact, the fight scenes rival that of any great action flick and that's more what I came away remembering.

But let's talk about Gal Gadot. Set aside for a moment that she's naturally gorgeous and flies around the screen with acrobatic grace, kicking the ass of anyone who gets in her way.

What do I love most about her performance? The warmth and intelligence she brings to our legendary superhero. This is no flake who bats her eyelashes, or waits for a man to protect her. This is a sweet, kind soul who just happens to fuel her intensity and power with love. Gadot comes to the role with just the right amount of innocence to be believable, yet she's strong enough to earn her superhero title. They really couldn't have cast a better actress to play her.

In fact, everyone here is well cast. The only character who really bothered me was Dr. Maru (Elena Anaya). She was a little over-the-top for my taste. So much, that I wouldn't have been surprised if she threw her head back and cackled or started petting a cat.

That said, the flaws are minor and the film is fantastic. It's hard to believe that this is the first major superhero movie to ever be directed by a woman, but Patty Jenkins was the right choice, hands down. The genius of it is that the focus really isn't on gender. It's just on this powerful being from a faraway place who happens to be female.

At heart, Wonder Woman just proves what we already know to be true: that love is the greatest force of all.